Search Results for: Korea

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PRESIDENT of Canadian auto manufacturer supplies giant Magna International has welcomed the European Commission’s approval of its purchase of German roof system manufacturer CTS Fahrzeug-Dachsysteme GmbH (CTS) from sports car maker Porsche. Brussels has imposed no conditions on the deal, which it concluded would not harm competition in the European Union (EU).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AUTO manufacturing firms will be closely monitoring next week’s World Trade Organisation (WTO) summit in Hong Kong for signs that the WTO’s long-running Doha Development Round talks are about to crack open national automobile markets. Key auto industry countries – the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan, South Korea, India and Brazil – have been making steady progress this year in identifying non-tariff barriers to trade they would like to remove, such as burdensome customs procedures, technical engineering rules and licences.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has negotiated another restrictive annual textile and clothing trade deal with Belarus, imposing tight quotas on a wide range of products that the proto-Soviet state can export to the European Union. These cover many clothing lines, including shirts, T shirts, and trousers for 2006, but the mere fact that the EU is imposing quotas puts Belarus in a small unlucky gang of non-World Trade Organisation (WTO) members who have restrictive access to the EU textiles market, also including North Korea and (oddly) Montenegro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) general council has permanently amended the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to make permanent the 2003 waiver helping poor countries obtain generic medicines during health emergencies. The TRIPS amendment enables any WTO member country to export generic pharmaceuticals made under a compulsory licence to assist countries lacking their own manufacturing capacity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Trade Organisation’s (WTO) general council has permanently amended the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement to make permanent a 2003 waiver helping poor countries obtain generic medicines during health emergencies. The TRIPS amendment enables any WTO member country to export generic pharmaceuticals made under a compulsory licence to assist countries lacking their own manufacturing capacity and whose nurses and doctors would otherwise be unable to deal with a serious disease problem.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LITTER collection and refuse disposal can pose environmental health hazards, so surely cities and towns would be cleaner if waste was sucked underground by a futuristic sucking mechanism. Sounds like the 22nd century, but actually, Swedish firm Envac Centralsug is already offering such a service.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is considering an application for the creation of three new civil aviation routes linking the Russian far east and South Korea, crossing North Korean air space over the Sea of Japan. An ICAO meeting concluded that the “extreme high cost of fuel has elevated this to an urgent request”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has acted to simplify the approval of ‘intelligent’ adaptive front-lighting systems (AFS) that boost illumination for drivers, while cutting the risk of glare for fellow motorists. It is proposing that manufacturers should bypass existing European Union (EU) complicated approval procedures for new technologies, by writing a draft United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) technical regulation for this kit into EU type-approval rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STEEP decline in sales of European Union (EU) finished leather to its number one market, the United States, has been highlighted by a comprehensive report on the global leather (and textile) market written for the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE the increase in global prices for coal since 2003, European Union (EU) coal producing countries still need to restructure their industries, a detailed European Commission survey has noted. Highlighting the increase in spot price for South African steam coal from US$36 in early 2003 to US$74 at the end of 2004, the report cited higher freight rates for Australian coal caused by rising demand in China and solid demand in Japan and South Korea, enabling “traditional suppliers” to the Atlantic market to raise their prices.…